First off, I love the title. I love that it can be read two different ways: as the screams of choir boys with pretty voices in a Jasmine created Paradise, and as Connor's (the pretty) rage vocalized in a Jasmine created Paradise. One way makes me think of Angel/Angelus and the other leaves me thinking of Connor. I love the duplicity there and also the way their almost interchangeable.
When I was re-reading, I really realized that I had gone over everything that meant something in the other comment on my LJ, so here I want to point out some of the lines that I loved:
I loved the difference between Angel and Connor when they are with Jasmine, the frame, I think as has been mentioned before, really does set the stage for what's to come and our understanding of how it could have happened. It also makes everything that much more horrible because we *know* that Connor isn't affected by Jasmine the way that everyone else is.
"But I don't do those things, now. And with Jasmine, I can finally try to be someone new."
Guh! How poignant is that!! That Angel wants so much to be good and new, and how much Connor just won't let him, partially because Connor knows how much of a lie they are living. I just found Angel's earnestness painful.
Think you're going to be beautiful, Dad?
… Connor didn't know enough about being close to someone to feel it strange that no breath came out.
That just hurts because this line is so about a basic human need for closeness, to be near and cared for and obviously Connor's sense and understanding of that need has been perverted by Holtz. So much so that he doesn't even realize the lack of tactile comfort. It's become something ugly and steeped in pain and shame.
Wrong to be eager for his touch, even through the bark, so you knew you were not alone.
My favorite line has to be:
"Maybe you loved me once. Maybe I was your boy, clean and pure like all those good little boys you like to ruin. But I'm not any more."
That line pretty much broke my heart into bitty pieces right there.
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When I was re-reading, I really realized that I had gone over everything that meant something in the other comment on my LJ, so here I want to point out some of the lines that I loved:
I loved the difference between Angel and Connor when they are with Jasmine, the frame, I think as has been mentioned before, really does set the stage for what's to come and our understanding of how it could have happened. It also makes everything that much more horrible because we *know* that Connor isn't affected by Jasmine the way that everyone else is.
"But I don't do those things, now. And with Jasmine, I can finally try to be someone new."
Guh! How poignant is that!! That Angel wants so much to be good and new, and how much Connor just won't let him, partially because Connor knows how much of a lie they are living. I just found Angel's earnestness painful.
Think you're going to be beautiful, Dad?
… Connor didn't know enough about being close to someone to feel it strange that no breath came out.
That just hurts because this line is so about a basic human need for closeness, to be near and cared for and obviously Connor's sense and understanding of that need has been perverted by Holtz. So much so that he doesn't even realize the lack of tactile comfort. It's become something ugly and steeped in pain and shame.
Wrong to be eager for his touch, even through the bark, so you knew you were not alone.
My favorite line has to be:
"Maybe you loved me once. Maybe I was your boy, clean and pure like all those good little boys you like to ruin. But I'm not any more."
That line pretty much broke my heart into bitty pieces right there.